Top Money Earners

After reading a thread here on the site, I did a bit of research to find information on the top paid players. No one on Arsenal’s squad makes an appearance until 60th place, where captain William Gallas pops up.

No big surprise that last year’s Footballer of the Year, AC Milan’s Kaká, tops the pile — raking in $286,876 per week, or just less than $15 million a year — with second-place Barcelona ace Ronaldinho making similar money. With his new deal, Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand, will move up the list and should be into the top ten.

Also remember that these numbers are just player wages and do not reflect endorsement deals or investments/holdings/net worth.

I’m pretty sure Cronaldo already signed a new deal with the Red Devils.

Before i learnt about american sports and the amount money their sportsmen get paid i too thought footballers were miles in front considering the global appeal of the game. Some of the stuff ive read about A-Rod and all have ridiculous numbers that extend over longer contracts though and not sure whether they include endorsements or not. A suggestion for a interesting blog article perhaps should have comparisons with American sports and football… i know you can get revenue statistics on the forbes website and all, would be an interesting read.

The american athletes are paid much more. Let me just give you a few examples. Alex Rodriguez, of the New York Yankees earns a whopping $27.5 million a year. While his teammate and Yankes captain Derek jeter makes $18.9 million a year. Johan Santana who recently signed with the New York Mets is going to make about $23 million a year. In the NBA, Kobe Bryant of the LA Lakers makes about $20 million a year while Jermaine O’Neal of the Indiana Pacers makes about $19 million a year. Star Quarterback Peyton Manning also makes close to $19 million a year. Ice hockey is clearly on the decline, The highest played hockey player Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals is making about $10 million a year.
The most highly paid athletes are in fact in the world of motor sport. In Formula 1, Current world champion, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen is making $51 million a year. While Fernando Alonso’s contract with McLaren(he has since left for former team Renault) was worth $40 million a year.